Crosby clears outright waivers

A's Crosby clears outright waivers

The waiver period expired at 10 a.m. PT on Friday and a Major League official confirmed that Crosby had not been claimed by another MLB organization. It appears that he will report to Spring Training in February as the team's starting shortstop.

It is not unusual for an organization to put a player on waivers -- even outright waivers -- but it must be prepared to lose that player without receiving compensation.

Besides Crosby, the A's have two other shortstops on the 40-man roster with some big league experience -- Cliff Pennington, who batted .242 in 36 games last season with Oakland, and Gregorio Petit, a .348 hitter in 23 at-bats in '08. Both are 24 years old.

Crosby has one year remaining on the five-year, $12.75 million contract extension he signed on April 5, 2005, and he will receive $5.25 million next season.

The Athletics attempted to sign free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal, reportedly offering him a four-year contract worth close to $40 million, but the career-long National League player decided to re-sign with the Dodgers for a reported $31 million over three years.

During his six years with the A's, Crosby has a .239 batting average, with 55 home runs, 234 RBIs, a .306 on-base percentage and 32 stolen bases in 41 attempts. Injuries limited him to 273 games between 2005 and '07, but he played in 145 games last season, the most since his rookie season in 2004. He played in 151 games that season.

Crosby has been living in limbo-land since the middle of November, when a Web report said the Orioles had talked about trading for him.

"It's definitely different," Crosby told MLB.com. "It'd be one thing if I was a free agent, because you have some sort of control in that situation, but this is totally out of my control. I've heard about [the A's] going after Furcal and maybe some other guys, but I can't do anything about it. All I can do is prepare for the season, because I know I'll be playing baseball somewhere next year.

"If it's Oakland, great," he added. "I love playing in Oakland, and I love the organization. But not many guys get to play their whole career in the same place."

Jim Street is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.